Once you get a mini-lathe, you will find that you have a
never-ending need to cut workable lengths of round stock from the 3 to 6 foot lengths that
it usually comes in. You can buy shorter lengths from sources such as Metal Mart,
but most suppliers charge extra for this service. A hacksaw will do the job if you
have time, patience and a strong arm, but a bandsaw is like having a tireless apprentice
ready to cut whatever you need while you continue to work on the important stuff. This is
because most horizontal or horizontal/vertical bandsaws such as the one described here,
clamp the work in a vise built into the saw and automatically shut off when the cut is
completed. This leaves you free to work on other things around the shop while the
bandsaw hums away in the background.

If I could have only one other power tool besides my
mini-lathe, it would be a bandsaw. If you're on a tight budget, you should consider
getting one even before the inevitable day when you find that you can no longer go through
life without a mini-mill (for most of us, this day occurs less than a month after getting
a mini-lathe!)

The 'standard' bandsaw for mini-lathe owners is widely known
as 'the 4x6 bandsaw' since it can cut through a rectangular cross section up to 4x6 in
size (try that with a hacksaw!) It can also operate in an upright position,
but is very limited in this mode due to the short throat depth (distance from the blade to
the support casting). Even so, after adapting mine for a decent table,
I find it quite useful in the vertical mode.

Like the mini-lathe, the 4x6 bandsaw is available from a
number of the same tool suppliers at a range of prices and with slightly varying features.
And like the mini-lathe, you will find when you first get it that its like getting
married: you will have a lot of disagreements and misunderstandings before you settle down
into a happy and satisfying relationship. Fortunately, this seems to take only a year or
two for these tools, compared to 10-20 years for marriage.

Some mini-lathe owners who are really tight on shop
space have had good results with the so-called 'portable' bandsaws. These are quite
compact and easy to relocate, but lack the automatic cut-off and vertical mode features.

Moral of this story: do not leave the
bandsaw unattended while it is in operation!

Melted plastic oozing from the overheated motor

My 4x6 bandsaw has become an indispensable part of my shop.
Any day that I work in the shop for more than an hour, chances are that I will use the
bandsaw. Mine has been in use now for about two years and has been a faithful, if somewhat
cantankerous, companion.

A nice feature of the saw is the automatic cutoff. You can
place a piece of work in the vise and let the saw do its work while you attend to other
business around the shop. Its not unusual for a fairly large piece of stock, say 2 inches
square, to take 4-5 minutes to cut through. Thus it was that the saw was working away
today while I was setting up the lathe for another operation.

Around noon, I was at a good stopping point and decided to
take a lunch break. Glancing at the saw, I observed that it was nearly finished cutting
through a 1x1 1/2" rectangular piece of aluminum stock. My shop is in the garage,
separated from the kitchen by a door. I generally take only about 15 minutes for lunch and
I can hear the saw from the kitchen, so I did not think twice about leaving the saw to
complete its work. As it turned out, lunch went a little longer than usual as I turned on
the TV and got interested in a show that was on.

I returned to the shop after about 30 minutes and, opening
the door, was quite surprised to be met by a cloud of acrid smoke! Quickly I looked
around, trying to determine the source of the smoke. My first reaction was to shut off the
power strip that provides power to the lathe and mill. Then I remembered the bandsaw!
Smoke was rising out of the motor vents. I yanked the power cord from the outlet and threw
open the main garage door and the back door to dispel the smoke.

The saw had stalled in the workpiece within about 1/16"
of completing the cut. With no thermal cutoff built into the motor, it just sat there
drawing current and getting hotter and hotter. It is quite possible that a fire would have
started, but by luck, a window air conditioner was plugged into the same outlet. It
appears that when the compressor of the air conditioner kicked in, it tripped the circuit
breaker for that circuit, cutting off power to the bandsaw. This must have happened only a
minute or two before I returned to the shop, as smoke was still rising from the bandsaw
motor when I returned.

Some time ago, I had modified the saw by making a plywood
backing support for the pulley cover. The plywood was badly scorched and part of the
plastic pulley cover was melted. After 30 minutes of cooling off, the motor was still way
too hot to touch. Then I noticed a stream of melted plastic had congealed underneath the
motor. Not a good sign! Further investigation and a complete tear down of the motor made
it evident that the motor would never run again. I also discovered that the lower mounting
bolt, that acts as a pivot point for the motor, was missing. The pulley on the motor was
therefore canted relative to the other pulley and this may have added excess drag to the
motor and contributed to the stall.

The photo below shows the bandsaw motor and plywood pulley
cover backing. Although its not evident from the photo, smoke was still coming out of the
motor housing when this photo was taken. If you look carefully, you can see that the
plywood is scorched near the motor. Near the bottom of the motor you can see some grayish
melted plastic dripping from the motor housing.

The next photos shows the melted area of the plastic pulley
cover and inside of the motor after disassembly.

On the left is a shot of the piece of aluminum that was
being cut; on the right is the scorched plywood pulley cover backing.

It quickly became apparent that the original bandsaw motor
was not salvageable, so I began a search for a replacement. From trips on my mountain bike
around an area within a few miles of my home, I was aware of some places that people
sometimes illegally dumped old appliances. With luck, I might find an abandoned washer or
dryer from which I could procure a workable motor. A quick check of these locations turned
up three kitchen ranges, but no washers or dryers.

My next effort was to attempt to revitalize a 3/4HP motor
from an old swimming pool pump that I had removed from service about 10 years ago. Since
then it has been sitting in the woods behind my house, just in case I ever needed it. When
I took it out of service it was still working, but apparently had a bad bearing and had
become very noisy. I brought it into the shop and cleaned out the inevitable ants and
spiders and then plugged 'er in. It worked, but was obviously way too noisy to be useable
in the shop, so the next effort was devoted to determining how to replace the bearings. I
spent a few hours on this problem without making a whole lot of progress. At first I
couldn't figure out how to remove the impeller, but the guys on the 7x10 group promptly
helped me solve that problem. Once the impeller was off, I had to remove the centrifugal
switch from the back of the motor. Since everything was rusted in place, this apparently
simple operation consumed another 2-3 hours. By the end of the day I still had not been
able to remove the front bearing.

Since I use my bandsaw just about every day I'm in the shop,
I decided to bite the bullet and just order a new motor, rather than futz around trying to
repair the pump motor or find a junk-yard replacement. My daytime schedule is pretty
tight, and I knew it would be at least a week before I would even have a chance to get to
a junk yard.

Ordering a new motor turned out to be a quick solution as I
placed my order on the Grizzly web site early Monday morning and the motor was waiting on
the porch when I got home from work on Wednesday. There was a dent in the start capacitor
cover (visible in the photo above), but otherwise the motor was in perfect condition. The
original motor was purported to be 1HP, but I knew better than to believe that. I figured
it would be nice to have a little extra power, though, and since the replacement motor was
also an import, I assumed that it, too, would be overrated.

The motor I ordered was a 3/4HP, P/N G2903
for $99.95 as of 12/31/08. $79.95 plus about $10 shipping. It is somewhat
bigger and heavier than the original motor and I suspect is actually more powerful.
Without hesitation, it cut through several pieces of the same stock that had stalled the
original motor and was not even warm to the touch when done. One minor annoyance is
that the mass of the motor rotor causes the motor to jump when power is first applied.

It seems a tad large for the bandsaw, and changed the
balance of the arm assembly. I backed off the tension on the counterbalance spring to
compensate for the extra weight of the motor. I'm pretty certain that a 1/2
HP version of the same motor would be about equal in power to the original motor and
would certainly run cooler. Reading through an issue of HSM, I ran across a picture of a
similar bandsaw that looks like it has an Enco logo on it. The motor was similar in size
to my replacement motor. I don't know if it was the original motor on that bandsaw or not.

Update 04/29/12

For years after replacing the motor (ten, in fact), I ran
the bandsaw without a guard over the belts and pulleys. I never felt right about that,
because I take safety seriously, but making a belt cover is not as simple as it might
seem, due to the odd angles and shapes involved, so I kept putting it off.

Recently I noticed some black rubber shavings on the floor
of the shop. Investigating, I discovered that the pulley of the bandsaw had been rubbing
against the power cord for the bench grinder, which sits next to it. Hmmm..., I said
to myself, I guess I need to do something about this. So I did.

As with most prototyping projects, I just jumped in. I knew
it probably would take me more than one attempt to get it right. There were two convenient
bolt holes in the arm casting, left from the original belt cover, so I took advantage of
those. After cutting a rough prototype base from 1/4" MDF, I had a pretty good idea
of what I needed to do. I cut a second base and then closed it in using pieces of
1/4" MDF cut to shape on the radial arm saw. Once cut, I glued them with wood glue,
then drove some small diameter (5/8" x 23 gage) nails with an air nailer to hold
things together until the glue set and to add some extra strength.

It worked out pretty well, except that when I decided to
close in the end, I neglected to include an access hole for the mounting bolt. After much
cursing and work with the saber saw and a file, I had an acceptable hole. The box is
open at the upper end so that it can slide off. The pulley and belt are deep enough within
the box that they're pretty well protected. It would be an easy upgrade to cut another
piece of MDF to fit the end and screw it in place. Maybe tomorrow...

The stock blade that comes with the bandsaw is barely
adequate. I recommend purchasing one or two bi-metal replacement blades when you buy your
bandsaw as they are a big improvement over the original. I don't know what the
component metals are, or why it is better, but it sure cuts faster and lasts longer. I
have bought them from Grizzly and Enco for around $16-18. They will last a year or
more cutting brass, aluminum and steel.

Here are the results of some tests I ran to compare the
cutting speed of the stock blade with the bi-metal blade. The stock blade was fairly new
and was used only on aluminum and brass, so should be in pretty good condition. All tests
run at highest of 3 speeds, with minimal spring tension (max weight on the blade) I had to
increase tension to keep blade from stalling in 1/2" alum plate.

Material

Stock Blade

Bi-Metal Blade

1/2" alum. plate,
5" cut

5 min

1 min 20 sec

2 1/2" alum. round

10 min

4 min

Update 1/3/09
The bi-metal blades that I've been using are Enco P/N 240-4930. They work fine on
aluminum steel and brass and any other material that I've needed to cut. Each blade has
given me years of service, usually ending when I inadvertently attempt to cut hardened
steel and dull the teeth.

I had a lot of trouble in the early days with the blade
becoming derailed. This was solved, for the most part, by keeping the blade tightly
tensioned - about as tight as you can get it. When you order your saw, order a bi-metal
replacement blade with it. The bi-metal blades are vastly superior to the stock
blade and will reduce your cutting times in half and will last several times as long.

The stand that comes with the bandsaw is made from thin
stamped sheet metal and is barely adequate to hold the saw up. Within a week or two
after getting my bandsaw, I trashed the metal base and made my own from some 2x3s and
plywood. This base is quite sturdy, inexpensive and easy to make. The only
tricky part is cutting compound angles on the tops of the 2x3s so that they fit into the
corners of the bandsaw casting. I had to relocate the cut-off switch slightly to make room
for the 2x3. Although not shown in the picture above, the sides of the stand have
proven to be a handy place for hanging various accessories for the saw, such as spare
blades.

The cheap metal table about 10" square that comes with
the bandsaw is just about useless. It also is a pain to set up and take down since
you have to remove 2 screws from the blade guide, then insert 2 screws to lock down the
table.

I made a replacement table - several, actually, of different
sizes and designs - from medium density fiber board (MDF) 1/2 or 5/8" thick. You can
get this material at Home Depot very inexpensively and it is smooth and easy to work with.
It does tend to absorb oil and dirt, so I spray paint it to seal the surface and give a
nicer working surface.

My replacement table can be set up or removed in under a
minute since only a single 1/4-20 socket head cap screw locks it in place. An
aluminum plate bolted to the underside of the table has alignment holes that engage with
pins on a machined aluminum mounting block that is permanently bolted to the saw frame.
This arrangement ensures that the table is precisely aligned and rigid, while only needing
one bolt to lock it down.

This image shows the support plate and mounting block under
the table

Here is the mounting block, showing the alignment pins and
locking bolt

If you don't have a mill, you might be able to cut the base
by sawing it in the bandsaw with a wedge underneath to set the angle of the cut and then
finish the piece by sanding on wet-dry paper (in 'wet' mode).

Frequently I find that I need to cut a small section from
the end of a piece of aluminum plate. The stock vise does not lend itself well to this
operation so I added an extension table to the base casting of the saw.

The vertical part of the extension helps support tall
workpieces. Usually I use a C-clamp to clamp the workpiece to the vertical extension.
Here's an example of cutting a long piece of 1/2" aluminum plate. I had to flip it
over to finish this cut since the depth of cut is limited by the arm of the bandsaw
hanging up on the workpiece.

This shot shows the underside of the extension table where
it mounts to the bandsaw casting.

The small screw at bottom center is a fine adjustment for
the angle, so that I can set the table exactly on plane with the surface of the casting.
The mounting holes for the vertical extension are oversize so that I can set it exactly in
line with the fixed jaw of the vise. The hex bolts pass through these mounting holes into
tapped holes in the bottom edge of the vertical extension.

One problem that several owners have reported is the
pulley/belt cover rubbing against the pulleys. I spent a lot of time fooling around with
this before I finally got radical and solved the problem by cutting away the stock base
and making a new one from an old piece of 1/4" plywood that was lying around. This
allowed me to custom fit the cover and has completely solved the problem.

I arrived at the dimensions by the 'cut and try' method. I
don't change the belt speeds very often or I would have used a thumbscrew of some sort to
lock the cover.

Jerry Fear posted some nice mods to
the 7x10 group. The first one shows a small drill press vise mounted on a base plate
that is clamped between the jaws of the bandsaw vise. Small stock, such as the bolt in the
picture, can then easily be held for cutting.

This next mod, shows how Jerry replaced the short movable jaw with a
second instance of the longer fixed jaw. He has drilled and tapped it for a jack screw
that holds the far end of the jaw in place when clamping stock that is too large for the
little vise shown above, but still too short to seat properly between the bandsaw vise
jaws. The picture on the right shows a disk shaped workpiece being held down by milling
clamps. Jerry drilled and tapped some holes for the clamp screws into the base of the
bandsaw.